inventory

We love bad news. It gets the biggest font headlines, and it leads on radio and TV.

Today I found two bits of good news buried in the Chicago Sun-Times. The paper's great business report Francine Knowles reports that temporary employment is up in Chicago by nearly 50% for the last five months. This increase usually precedes increased full time hires. In the same edition, a small note said that retail inventory are being depleted, which means Americans are buying again, another factor that should lead to hiring. A couple of weeks ago another buried story was the latest Consumer Confidence Survey, which showed that American are feeling better about the economy.

These stories give me hope that summer will be a comeback time for the economy. Today I was at a street fair in my neighborhood and a book fair in downtown Chicago. People are out, and they are spending money. Rather than worry about Spain and Greece, the media should look at what's happening in Chicago.